The Other Side: Notes on the Eighth Month

To the baby who will eventually read all these posts about her development over her first year:

I’m sorry this is going to be a short summary of all the stuff you’ve been doing. You are currently napping in your swing*, and I have no idea how long your slumber will last. Writing about you during your waking hours is out of the question, as you are in to everything and love to have my full, undivided attention.

*Which, incidentally, you totally busted out of a few days ago. I heard you screaming bloody murder and when I went to go check on you, you were dangling by your leg from the strap. My apologies for not buying you that baby straight-jacket that could have held you in place.

Crawling has given you a new lease on life. There is no turning back from your semi-independence. I think back on eight months ago when you were smaller than the throw pillows on the couch and could barely latch on when I fed you. Now you can make it across the entire apartment in about 15 seconds. You are growing too fast. You’re killing me, C. I want you to stay small, but with each new syllable that you utter, you are romancing me with the more mature you. You’re coaxing me with your delicate movements and I am beginning to wonder if all that time I was pregnant with you and when you were a newborn was just a figment of my imagination, since the child I have now is more a girl than a baby. These two yous can’t exist within the space of one year.

I am resigning myself to your 12 month old outfits, even though you’re only just now beginning your ninth month outside of me. I’m putting the clothes you’ve outgrown in a bag in your closet. It’s a big yellow bag they gave me at the hospital when I had you, a space to put all the personal effects of my pregnancy. Now it holds the footie pajamas I can’t pretend you can still wear. My organized self used to like cleaning out your drawers of the clothes you had outgrown, but now it makes me sad. Just one more night in your tiny green pajamas? Just one more morning with a long sleepy nursing session?

No, you have places to be and toilets to inspect. I don’t blame you for it, but I am already missing the girl you were this morning, only a few minutes ago. Yet I adore the girl you are now. You are beckoning me forward and holding my hand as I become the mom you need me to be, all while I hold you up right back.

All about the paci

Is it possibly that I’ve never put a picture of C in the bath tub on the blog? Oversight remedied.

We finally found the best remedy for achy teething gums: partially frozen zucchini.

This is the one and only outfit I bought for her before she was born. Good purchase.

Like this:

71 comments

“You are beckoning me forward and holding my hand as I become the mom you need me to be, all while I hold you up right back.” – that sentence is so perfect! It really is the essence to good parenthood.

She is becoming extremely expressive. Today at the doctor’s office, she was making faces and screaming at all the other babies in the waiting room. Who is this little girl with such a loud voice?! Surely not my quiet little newborn ;) Thanks, Cathy!

Aww, I love this, Emily. You did such a good job of capturing the emotions you experience when you have a kid who is not a baby, not yet a toddler. It’s such a whirlwind, but it’s like they just get cooler every day. I already want a second one, and I never thought I would.

She is getting so big. Love the pictures, and I can relate so much to the packing up of outgrown clothes. K had one pair of pajamas with feet that I couldn’t bear to let go of; when she outgrew them we cut the feet off so she could wear them just a little longer.

That’s right! You were with me when I bought it! It’s pretty much the cutest thing EVER. I can’t wait for you to see it! Also, check out my About page because I updated the picture of her and she’s wearing the outfit y’all sent.

Part of the joy of reading parent blogs is watching the parents grow too. Now that I’m on my 3rd (child… not parent blog) I have a pretty good idea what’s headed your way with little C. Here’s looking forward to your posts about the first time she rides off on a bicycle without training wheels, or when you look back at 7 years of Santa pictures taken at the same place every single year.

— so not to be redundant but she is so adorable.
I love your posts.. you make me flashback to my daughters as these cute adorable beings– I need these flashbacks as I deal with them currently as teenagers :0)

Y’know, it’s funny you say that. When I first started writing these when she was a newborn, it was really kind of compulsory because I didn’t really see her as a human yet. Now that she’s getting bigger and becoming so expressive and independent, I can’t wait for her to read them someday. ;)

You are telling me! Most of my day is spent distracted by how cute she is. I am mostly in awe that my husband and I managed to make such a photogenic child, since the two of us are not exactly the most gorgeous people.

Whoa – total cuteness overload! Before I had kids and I heard people say that kids grow up too quickly and that time just simply flys I had no idea how true this was. It is crazy. I can not wrap my brain around the fact that after the next group of birthdays in the spring, I shall have a seven and a five year old. It stuns me.

I sound like a broken record but I just think C is beyond beautiful. Why do I feel that this child will never have an awkward stage? Too precious. Lily lived in the bath. Some of the best video of her is a running monologue where she talks to Ursula, from the Little Mermaid. She calls her the Water Wee, because she couldn’t say water witch. It’s all very cute. Keep filming and taking photos – she’ll die laughing in 12 years when she watches them with her friends. And, you have this blog so she’ll be able to see that she had a major fan club and following at 8 months! Cool!

Oh, the pain of separating from our babies… It’s so sad. I feel ya in this one. It goes fast.

[…] in a way that has served her well in her blogging career. When she writes about trying to blog, her daughter’s 8-month birthday, or finding your people, Emily does so with empathy, frankness, and humor. You get the feeling that […]